Why It's Time For Black Women To Stop Hating On Beyonce

Beyoncé is definitely a love or hate artist. You're either dissing her or apart of the Beyhive. Admittedly I was a hater; I used to blame her for Destiny's Child breaking up and thought she was shady about her success. I admit I belittled the hard work she constantly puts into her craft for her fans. While it seemed harmless, I now realize knocking Beyoncé down is destructive as a black woman. As Beyoncé is becoming bolder about the police brutality issue in America, it is imperative now more than ever that black woman are uplifting Bey.


As the Black Lives Matter movement progresses, a lot more variables come into consideration, one being support received from black celebrities. Queen B and husband Jay-Z have been providing funds towards the Ferguson and Baltimore actions, particularly with bailouts. Mr. Carter has even gotten political at a performance in New York saying "...You know when I worked, I used to slave right? You know I ain't shucking and jiving and high-fiving you know this ain't back in the day right? Well I can't tell; the way they killed Freddie Gray, shot down Mike Brown, how they killed Tray right?" it's clear the couple is as angry as the rest of us and they're doing something about it.





Saturday while scrolling through my various social media accounts, one thing was in common with all of them: everyone was talking about Beyoncé's "Formation" music video. I didn't think much of it at first, but once I saw people praising her for defending Baby Blue's hair, calling out police violence, and her performing (and killing) the song at the Super Bowl, I believed the hype and checked it out. To my surprise, the hype was right.

"Formation" Beyoncé
https://youtu.be/LrCHz1gwzTo


Beyoncé's video was everything from political to black girl magic (I mean did you see those ladies working?!). It was also a call to black women. Looking back at all the organizing since 2012, many critiques about protests and actions was that women were the majority and in the forefront of everything. Women hold down black men and mobilize when it's time to fight for their justice and more importantly their livelihood. I believe that "Formation" is a call to become even more militant in our activism and shake the revolution up.



Beyoncé Super Bowl 2016
http://www.vox.com/2016/2/7/10934378/super-bowl-50-halftime-show-2016-beyonce?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=share:article:top

This is why I'm deciding to stop being a hater of Beyoncé and support her. I as a black woman now share a common goal with Beyoncé: we want the police to stop being anti-black. We want America to care about black lives. That's enough for me to stop being a negative Nancy about the music icon and embrace her efforts.

Now I'm not joint the Beyhive or anything, but I am glad to say I support Beyoncé. Her political standpoint is a bold one to take in her industry and people are already responding negatively, as they wish to boycott her. It won't matter though, she has gained more fans than lost by being about something important to black people today. Kudos to you, Mrs. Carter!